January 19, 2009

With one of the most historic inaugurations upon us, it is no surprise that Obama souvenir peddlers are coming out of the woodwork. Take the Obama “Victory Plate”, for example.

In a current TV commercial, the announcer is exhorting us to “own a piece of history”, “priceless work of art”, “first issue collector’s plate”, “this issue has been strictly limited to 65 firing days; after that, the die will be destroyed forever”, “this special treasure will be cherished as a prized family heirloom”, and “the certificate of authenticity from the American Historic Society promises you will own a collectible of the highest quality and integrity”.

Well, if the American Historic Society has endorsed this “collectible”, maybe it could worth money someday. Not.

*MOUSE PRINT: Not disclosed either in the commercial or on their website is the fact that the American Historic Society is not related to the American Historical Society — theÂ organization incorporated by Congress in 1889.Â Â The latter nonprofit has neither commissioned the manufacture and sale of this plate, norÂ endorsed it.

The American Historic Society appears to be merely a marketing company engaged in the sale of commemorative coins and memorabilia.

And like so many other made-for-tv “collectibles”, the Obama plate is most likely destined to join that velvet picture of Elvis in your garage.

Even school children are on to this worthless ware. Sixty-five firing dates, indeed! My heirs, however, will languish in the legacy of leaving my Velvet Elvis, where the loom was forever jammed after only three weaving dates.

The one thing they also never disclose are those 65 firing days are not at 1 lone kiln. They are at many thousand kiln’s located all over the 3rd world. They will most likely fire enough plates to be able to lay them end to end from California to Washington, DC. with some left over.

These plates are worthless but i bought my obama button and democratic 2008 denver hat at bldg 19 this weekend for my collectible closet. There was a Michelle button but i got there too late for that one. The baseball hats are very useful to keep the sun out of the eyes and I am sure the Michelle button will be a fashionista collectible someday.

Sorry to burst your bubble Ellen, but the merchandise sold by vendors at the convention in Denver won’t have much value, either. They are produced in huge quantities for sale to the public, and the thousands of leftovers are dumped on the hobby very cheaply. The Obama buttons that will be worth a lot of money are the short run buttons that come from the campaigns, and are specific in their content such as state, group or event. A Teamsters For Obama button picturing the President with James Hoffa is worth a lot of money. The mass produced junk from Tigereye is not. I have been tracking Obama buttons since 2002, and I have more than 3300 different buttons. I also publish my own newsletter, so if anyone wants any real information on Obama buttons contact me at davros@fgi.net.